Sprinkle Cookies
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Fun, colorful, Sprinkle Cookies! Soft, buttery, chewy cookies encased in a colorful sprinkle shell! Oh, and did I mention that there’s no chilling necessary!?
Happy Friday!
It also happens to be Zach’s birthday today and while I’d love to say I made these sprinkle cookies to celebrate, unfortunately that’s not the case. The man hates sprinkles. I’m not even kidding here, he hates them. He loathes the texture (!?!), and he especially hates the way they get all over the house every time I make anything that uses them.
For his birthday he asked that I make him my chocolate cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting, and he was adamant that not so much as a single sprinkle should adorn his cake. I guess at 29 he’s really falling into his grumpy old guy stride.
Anyway, rather than being a festive birthday share, it’s kind of ironic I’m sharing these sprinkle cookies on the birthday of the biggest sprinkle-hater in my life, but here we are. And I have no apologies because these sprinkle cookies are amazing. Soft and chewy on the inside with a candy-like sprinkle coating on the outside… he doesn’t know what he’s missing.
The base for these sprinkle cookies is a buttery vanilla cookie. I actually based it largely off of my Snickerdoodles recipe, and you’ll notice that this cookie recipe uses cream of tartar.
I wanted a cookie that was soft and chewy, but not overly sweet on its own. We’re adding a lot of sugary sprinkles to the outside, so a cookie with a subtle tang (thank you, cream of tartar) was the best choice to counter the sweetness.
AND, there’s absolutely no chilling required with this recipe. I have so many cookie recipes that require chilling, it’s nice to make cookies without needing to use the fridge for once!
Tips for Making Sprinkle Cookies
- Roll your sprinkle cookie dough through the sprinkles immediately after rolling. Immediately after rolling the surface of your cookie dough will be slightly warmed from your hands and sticky enough to pick up all the sprinkles that you roll it through. If you wait and roll out all of your dough and then go back to roll it, the surface will have lost its stickiness and won’t pick up as many sprinkles.
- Jimmies/traditional sprinkles will work instead of nonpareils. In my opinion I prefer the texture and snappy crunch of the nonpareils and I prefer the way the nonpareils completely coat the cookies, leaving much less cookie showing through than traditional sprinkles do.
- The centers of your cookies should be ever so slightly underdone when they finish baking. Let them finish cooling completely on the cookie sheet before enjoying. They’ll finish cooking here, too, and will be nice and soft (or at least the interiors will be).
Enjoy!
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Sprinkle Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 ½ cups (300 g) granulatedsugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups (375 g) all-purpose, plain flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups nonpareil sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line several baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl and using an electric mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until well-combined1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened to room temperature, 1 ½ cups (300 g) granulatedsugar
- Add egg and egg yolk and vanilla extract. Beat until thoroughly combined.1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt until completely combined.3 cups (375 g) all-purpose, 1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet until completely combined.
- Scoop dough into Tablespoon-sized balls and roll between your palms until smooth and round. Immediately roll through nonpareils until cookie dough ball is completely coated with sprinkles.1 ¼ cups nonpareil sprinkles
- Place on prepared baking sheet, spacing cookies at least 1 ½” apart.
- Transfer to 350F (175C) preheated oven and bake for 9-10 minutes. Allow to cool completely on baking sheet before serving.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
The cookies do not turn out like the photo. The batter is dry, like pie crust. I wet the rolled dough in order for the sprinkles to stick. However, when I baked it for 9 min, the cookie spreads and cracks so the sprinkles spread out.
I’m so sorry to hear you experienced this, Carol! Did you weigh your flour? Did you make any substitutions or alterations? You can watch me make them in the video to see the dough. I hope that helps! 🙂
The cookies are actually pretty good despite the appearance issues I mentioned before. And I did not measure the flour. I just used three cups as suggested in the recipe. I also do make sure the flour is not packed, so I don’t know where I went wrong here.
Awesome cookies!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Elissa! 🙂
when I make my cookies into balls for this and the funfetti one they don’t Flatten in the oven? not sure why?
they taste great though.
Hi Jessica! Are you weighing your flour? You may have a little too much flour in the dough.
These cookies are FABULOUS and I can’t stop making them!
Sam, your recipes are amazing! In a sea of weird (probably AI) recipes that don’t usually turn out well, I know I can count on your recipes to always turn out. I also very much appreciate you providing weight measurements for the most accurate bake. Thank you!!
P.s. please email me if you’re ever on the lookout for a recipe tester 💕😉
Thank you so much, Shelby! I’m so glad you enjoy everything so much! 🙂
Hi! Want to try this recipe but cut it in half the first time. Will that work if I just use one entire egg?
Hi Bridgitte! A whole egg will work, but the cookies could be slightly puffier and spread a little bit.
These came
Our flat and way too sweet. Not at all what I expected.
Oh no! That’s definitely not how they should’ve turned out, how frustrating.
Hi!
These are amazing!! I wanted to know if I wanted slightly larger cookies, could I possibly do 2tbs size balls and if so how much longer would I cook it for?
Hi Penny! You could scoop them larger but I’m not sure on a bake time. Enjoy! 🙂
Hi there. Thank you for this delicious recipe. I made these yesterday and I used the OXO small cookie scoop (1 tablespoon), which weighed 15 grams, and I got 65 cookies. You state that you scooped yours at 1 tablespoon per cookie and your video looks like a small cookie scoop, but why the significant difference in the number of cookies? Can you tell me how you measured your “tablespoon”?
Thanks!
Hi Stephanie! I’m glad you enjoyed them! I actually use a tablespoon sized cookie scoop as well. Interesting that you got so many more than I did, but as long as they tasted good that’s what’s important! 🙂
Interesting. They were indeed delicious and so cute! Love all your recipes. Your site is top of my list to check out when I need a good recipe that works. 🙂 Thanks so much for responding.
Hello,
You may have creamed your butter/sugar mixture longer for a fluffier cream which results in more cookies! Hope that helps!
Hi! These cookies look so cute. I want to bake them for a party next week and was thinking of making them ahead of time and freezing them. Would it be alright to bake them and freeze them? Thank you!
Hi Elizabeth! That should work just fine. 🙂
Oh so lemony. I didn’t have extract so I used juice, still delicious!! Also, not a fan of powdered sugar, so used sugar crystals. So yummy! Thanks, Sam!!
Yesterday, I made these cookies and they are great! I want to make another batch, but I’m out of cream of tartar. What could I use a substitute for cream of tartar?
Hi Jessica! I haven’t tested it without the cream of tartar, but I think they’ll still turn out. The cream of tartar adds a nice flavor to the cookies. Let me know how it goes if you try it! 🙂
These are not only cute and fun but I swear these are the most delicious tasting cookie I’ve ever made or frankly ever eaten anywhere! Make these! You will be the hero…IF you don’t eat too many before sharing!!
Such a fun recipe! Just wondering how long they’ll last if kept in an air tight container. Thanks!
They should be good for about a week in an air tight container. 🙂
Easy to make & my grandkids loved them.
So happy to hear that these cookies were a hit for you, Heather! Enjoy ❤️
Hi Sam, if I want to buy the non pareils, which brand would be the tastiest? I’m looking for one that is the least chemical tasting and whose color does not bleed..
I buy mine from Country Kitchen Sweet Arts. 🙂
These cookies were so easy and fun to make. And the are delicious! Thanks for always sharing the BEST recipes.
Thank you so much, Kathy! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂